"I think there are so many incredible shows out right now," Michele just told me while promoting the second Valspar Hands for Habitat charity campaign. "I am a huge fan of Girls and the fact that Lena [Dunham] got nominated and the show got nominated is amazing. There's some really great stuff out there right now, so I feel like this is just the natural progression of things."

Besides, she said, "I'm very proud of our last season. I think it was one of our best seasons ever."

Coming up is season 4. Shooting begins on Wednesday. She confirmed she's going to be performing a song à la the Barbra Streisand cover of the tune on the first episode, but politely declined to tell us which one. The second episode will be another Britney Spears tribute.

And then there's guest star Kate Hudson. "What we get to do together on the show is so awesome," Michele teased.

Michele will be in New York City tomorrow to launch the second annual Valspar Hands for Habitat, an initiative that auctions off self-made celebrity handprints to benefit Habitat for Humanity's disaster relief programs in the U.S., Haiti and Chile.

"When they asked me to do my handprint, I did it like a little activity in my backyard," Michele said. "They gave me a couple different paint samples and a couple of different canvas backgrounds. So I did like four different ones. I started to get a little carried away.

"I sent them in and then was like, 'OK, you guys pick and tell me what you think,'" she continued. "All the colors were so bright and so pretty. I just think this is such a great [and] easy way to make money for such an incredible cause."